How to Hire in the Philippines in 2026: Four Pay Floors Moved in Eight Weeks
Four regions raised their daily pay floor between 1 September and 26 October 2026, and Metro Manila now sits at ₱755. We priced a ₱60,000 hire line by line, compared 17 regional floors, checked 12 providers on their own sites and worked exit pay through to pesos.
Five figures to settle before you name a salary
They decide whether a ₱60,000 salary costs you ₱60,000 or closer to ₱70,000 once the statutory charges land.
Four budgeting mistakes that throw off a Philippine offer
Pay floors moved in four regions this autumn, and the contribution caps changed in 2024 and 2025. An older cost sheet is wrong by a few hundred pesos a month per hire, every month.
Budgeting SSS on the 2024 ceiling
SSS has run at 15% on a salary credit capped at ₱35,000 since January 2025, with the employer paying 10%. A sheet built on the earlier 9.5% employer rate and ₱30,000 cap comes up ₱650 short each month on any salary above ₱35,000.
Leaving the 13th month out of the offer
Employers owe one twelfth of basic pay earned in the year by 24 December. On ₱60,000 that is ₱5,000 a month to set aside, or ₱60,000 a year that a cost sheet without it never shows.
Charging Pag-IBIG on the whole salary
Pag-IBIG applies 2% to a monthly fund salary capped at ₱10,000 since February 2024, so the employer pays ₱200. Taking 2% of ₱60,000 instead overstates the cost by ₱1,000 a month.
Pricing every hire at the Metro Manila floor
Floors follow the workplace, not the head office. Cebu City sits at ₱582 under the order in force from 14 October 2026 against ₱755 in Metro Manila, a gap of ₱4,498 a month on a 26-day basis.
Rates as in force on 28 October 2026. The regional gap is worked in the location table below, and every cap is applied in the receipt above.
What the Metro Manila floor change adds to one hire
NCR-28 lifted the non-agricultural floor from ₱695 to ₱755 on 26 September 2026. We priced one worker at each floor on a 26-day month with every employer charge applied.
Floor under NCR-26, from July 2025
₱18,070 a monthFloor under NCR-28, from 26 Sep 2026
₱19,630 a monthWhen we priced the same Metro Manila job under both orders, employer cost per month moved from ₱22,058 to ₱23,937. About 17% of that jump comes from contributions and the 13th month, not from pay.
Assumes 26 paid days a month and SSS salary credits of ₱18,000 and ₱19,500. NCR-26 took effect on 18 July 2025. NCR-27 is still in court and its ₱25 second step is not part of NCR-28.
A year-one budget at three published EOR fees
One hire at ₱60,000 a month, with the statutory add-ons from the receipt and an EOR fee at the lowest, middle and highest starting rates we found on vendor sites.
Two providers publish different starting fees on different pages of their own sites. We used each pricing page, noted the gap, and let the highest published fee set the top column.
Not in these totals: refundable deposits, FX margins and charges for off-cycle payroll runs. Vendor pricing pages don’t always show them, so ask each provider for a country quote. Our EOR ranking covers how fees compare.
Run your own salary through the Philippine rules
Enter any monthly salary to see SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and the 13th month applied with their caps.
Five regions, five different legal pay floors today
There’s no national minimum wage. Each regional wage board sets its own floor, and the rate follows the workplace, not the employee’s home address.
The NCR picture is messier than the headline. NCR-27, an ₱85 rise in two steps, is tied up in court, while NCR-28 reaches ₱755 from 26 September without the ₱25 second step, so we priced only NCR-28. We confirmed the Central Luzon and Davao rates from secondary reports only.
Daily floors for non-agricultural work as in force on 28 October 2026. Lower tiers apply to small retail, service and agricultural employers, for example ₱718 in NCR and ₱542 for Central Visayas Class B areas.
When your own Philippine company costs less than an EOR
On published setup and running estimates, a Philippine subsidiary beats an EOR charging $599 from 2 staff on yearly running costs and from 3 staff once setup is counted. Capital is the catch.
EOR bars use a $599 fee, or $7,188 per employee a year. Entity costs are the latest confirmed published USD estimates from Emerhub (updated 6 October 2025): setup $5,500, then $13,450 a year to run for up to 10 staff, plus $240 a year per extra employee. The scale runs to $90,000.
Using published entity costs, the switch comes at 2 staff on running costs and 3 in year one at a $599 fee. At the $199 fee it takes 6 and 8.
These figures cover the company layer only. Salaries and contributions are the same under both models. The setup estimate assumes the foreign-owned minimum of USD 200,000 in paid-up capital, which has to be funded and isn’t counted above. Emerhub says the figure can be lowered for firms that hire at least 50 Filipinos or export most of their output.
Registration takes 4 to 5 months, so your first hire waits on an EOR either way. An EOR also doesn’t remove permanent establishment risk if your own staff sign contracts or make decisions in the country, and a company adds directors and an officer in trust. We’d start on an EOR and move staff across once the numbers turn.
Which providers say they employ through a Philippine entity
We read each provider’s own Philippines page on 28 October 2026. A provider counts as an own-entity employer only when its page says so.
Use a local partner
Four of 12 providers say on their own pages that they employ through a Philippine entity of their own. None says it uses a local partner. The Justworks and Pebl pages wouldn’t load, so both stay as not stated.
Lowest published fee of the 12, with no setup or termination fees listed. Its Philippines page doesn’t name the legal employer, so ask which entity signs the contract.
Its Philippines material describes a wholly owned local entity. The hiring page shows a management fee starting at $599.
States that it owns its Philippine legal entity. The fee is $599 a month on an annual contract.
Built around compliance depth, with a Philippines fee that isn’t published. Confirm the entity and the price in writing before you sign.
Starting fees per employee per month from each vendor’s own site on 28 October 2026. Ranks come from our global EOR list until a Philippines ranking is live.
See all 12 ranked providersWhat letting someone go costs after one, three, five and ten years
Separation pay depends on the cause as well as the tenure. We priced four cases on a ₱60,000 monthly salary, using the latest salary rate, with a fraction of six months or more counted as a full year.
Worked through, redundancy after ten years on ₱60,000 a month comes to ₱600,000, twice the ₱300,000 owed after five.
Process and deadlines. Authorized-cause dismissals need 30 days’ written notice to the worker and to DOLE, and the law doesn’t allow pay in lieu of notice. Just-cause dismissals owe no separation pay but need a written notice and a chance to respond. Final pay is due within 30 days of separation under DOLE Labor Advisory 6 of 2020.
Retirement pay is separate. From age 60 with 5 years of service it is 22.5 days a year, which on a 26-day month comes to ₱519,231 after 10 years.
Contractor test and the foreign hire route
Philippine courts weigh who selects the worker, who pays, who can dismiss and who controls how the work is done. Answer these five before you sign a contractor agreement.
Do you set their working hours?
Yes adds riskDo you direct how the work is done, not only what is delivered?
Yes adds riskDo you pay a fixed monthly amount instead of per deliverable?
Yes adds riskDid you select and onboard them the way you do staff?
Yes adds riskCan you end the arrangement or replace them at will?
Yes adds riskWe couldn’t confirm a current permit fee or validity rule under DOLE Department Order 248-B of 11 June 2026, which moved processing to the central office. Treat 15 working days as the statutory target and ask for current timing before you plan a start date.
Tools for the next step in your hiring plan
How we checked the numbers on this page
Co-founder and Editor, HR Stacks
Manjuri runs the editorial process behind our provider reviews and country hiring guides. She has more than ten years of editorial experience, the last five spent on employer of record and global employment.
More from Manjuri- Worked in Python. The receipt, the Metro Manila floor comparison, the year-one budget, the break-even and four exit cases were all calculated in code and rounded only for display.
- Rates and floors. SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG rates and caps were matched across several compliance publishers that cite the statutes and circulars. Pay floors came from reports on 17 regional wage orders.
- Provider check. On 28 October 2026 we read the Philippines page of 12 providers on their own sites. The Justworks and Pebl pages wouldn’t load, so both stay as not stated.
- Scenarios. The break-even used published USD setup and running costs at three EOR fees of $199, $599 and $699. Exit pay was worked to pesos for 1, 3, 5 and 10 years.
- Rechecks. We recheck every six months and whenever SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, a wage order or the permit rules change. The next scheduled check is April 2027.
Questions employers ask before hiring in the Philippines
How to hire in the Philippines without setting up a local company?
How much does it cost to employ someone in the Philippines on ₱60,000 a month?
What is the minimum wage in Manila in 2026?
Is 13th month pay mandatory in the Philippines?
How much is the employer SSS contribution in 2026?
How much is separation pay in the Philippines?
Do foreign employees need a work permit in the Philippines?
At how many employees does a Philippine company beat an EOR?
Shortlist a Philippine EOR with the costs in hand
Compare 12 providers on price, coverage and who holds the contract.